


The one with Modesty

by Go_get_Jakes_gun



Category: Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them (Movies)
Genre: Adoption, Awkwardness, Jealousy, M/M, MACUSA doesn't let foreign wizards adopt USA citizen wizards, cute stuff
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2017-05-24
Updated: 2017-07-26
Packaged: 2018-11-04 13:02:24
Rating: Mature
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 12
Words: 11,176
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/10991466
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Go_get_Jakes_gun/pseuds/Go_get_Jakes_gun
Summary: Newt moves to America to start a new life and finds an abandoned Modesty. He realizes that she has magic and is being abused by her foster family, so he takes her in, the only problem? MACUSA has a law stating that only American wizards can adopt american wizard children. Thankfully, a very guilty and re-instated Percival Graves offers to be her foster father and it all works out, they just have to live together. That shouldn't be too hard, right?Wrong.





	1. Chapter 1

 

Newt sighed a breath of relief.

 

Love England as he may, it was still refreshing to travel considering he'd spend, like, eight years doing it.

 

He saw the tall buildings that marked New York.

 

He had come, like many, to start a new life here.

 

No offense to his family, because he loved them like crazy, but it felt nice having his own thing, being surrounded by people who looked at his profession with awe instead of politely nodding and trying to be supportive even though he knew they disapproved of it.

 

_“He could’ve done so much better,” he’d heard his mother say once to his father when they'd both thought that he was asleep. “The grades he graduated with- top of the class in almost every subject, he could’ve been an Auror, like Theseus! He could’ve run for Minister! He could’ve done **something** worth while!”_

He’d kindly refrained from reminding her that given the whole ‘Leta Lestrange’ incident that had happened whilst in his sixth year, he doubted he could’ve done anything of the sort. Granted, he had gotten some pretty fantastic OWLs!

 

And whilst it hurt, it did mean a lot that they still smiled lovingly at him and nodded politely whenever he talked about the magical creatures he'd met.

 

But that wasn’t the point. The main reason, though he hadn’t told anyone, was because he wanted to court- and possibly start a life with- Tina.

 

Porpentina Goldstein, possibly the most intriguing woman he’d ever met. There were just _so_ many great things about her. For starters, she didn’t hate his creatures _or_ him, which was pretty much all he ever looked for in a partner. But other than that she was kind and smart, and when she wasn’t stressed out about his stray animals running amuck around New York, she actually had a rather delightful sense of humor. She was also beautiful in a way that most people would probably never be able to fully appreciate.

 

She was the main reason that, when Seraphina Picquery, President of MACUSA, had offered him the job, he'd taken it.

 

The job? He was being offered a consultancy job for magical beast related cases, as well as being put in charge of training some new recruits on how to handle magical beasts as part of Auror training.

 

Aside from getting to do the thing he loved most in the world around the people he loved second-most in the world, his pay wasn’t too bad wither, given that he was receiving the salary of an ‘International Specialist,’ which he garnered was MACUSA’s word for, ‘we have _way_ too much money, take it, it’s yours.’ But seriously, he was _never_ going to complain about making 20 dragots a week. That was _way_ more than his previous ‘4 sickles a week’ salary which had been bumped up due to a promotion after his book came out. Granted, he supposed that he would be doing a hell of a lot more work now.

.

 

Nothing could have prepared him for what he saw when he got out of customs. There was Queenie and Tina, bright and perky as ever… and _him_.

 

A tall, dark-haired man with a fairly muscular build. He had exotic green eyes that made him look hella attractive, and he was kissing Tina.

 

Lucas Fontaine, as Tina would later introduce, a nice, handsome bloke that worked in her division. He was handsome, powerful, smart, kind, charming… everything he wasn’t.

 

Queenie had looked at him crestfallen, and he assumed that she’d read his mind.

 

Not that this little mishap mattered, right? He didn’t come here _just_ for Tina, he also had work to do and animals to restore to their native lands, but that didn’t stop how badly it hurt.


	2. Chapter 2

The exterior of the Woolworth building was as drab and gloomy as ever.

 

He walked in through the halls full of people up to the information centre.

 

“Um, hi,” he said, awkwardly, “I’m here to see the President.”

 

The lady there smiled and gestured to a girl filing paperwork, “Madam President sent her down to fetch you.”

 

He nodded and went over to her, she looked up. “Mr…?” she was clearly testing him to make sure he wasn’t an imposter or some other person that had come into MACUSA to ‘see’ the President, but this wasn’t really all that effective. The Ministry of Magic required you to take Veritaserum before you were allowed to speak with the Minister of Magic.

 

“Scamander.”

 

She nodded, “Right, let’s get a move on then.”

 

She lead him up several flights of stairs and he wondered why they weren’t just taking the elevator. At one set there were seven different staircases, she took the second one from the right, at another set there were twenty-three, she took the seventh one from the left. Finally, they approached a stone statue- a throwback to Newt’s Hogwarts days- of a Thunderbird. A very familiar voice snapped out, “Password?”

 

“Veritaserum,” she replied.

 

Somehow the statue managed to nod, and they headed up their last flight of stairs.

 

It lead to a cozy loft with a desk and several cabinets. There were portraits framed on the walls of imposing-looking people. Newt guessed that they were the previous Presidents.

 

“Nice one, Wilkinson,” a man sniggered.

 

“Fuck off, Harkaway,” the lady whom he assumed to be Wilkinson replied.

 

“Who’s that?” another asked.

 

Newt gulped, suddenly feeling all eyes in the room on him.

 

“Uhh, I, h-hi?” he tried.

 

“Mr. Scamander,” the loud voice of President Picquery boomed, “Thank you, Martha,” she acknowledged the lady who nodded and left the room. She paused for a bit and frowned a little. “Please, sit down.”

 

He sat in a chair opposite her.

 

“Thank you for accepting my offer,” she smiled at him, “I think you'll be very happy with the bright and enthusiastic r-”

 

“Madam President!” someone apparated into the room- since when was that an option? Newt thought, using the momentary disruption to have a few quick pants, Gods, he’d climbed thirty-two flights of stairs for this, going up, down, and sideways, why wasn’t he told he could just apparate?- Newt froze up a little, he remembered that voice, although the last time he’d heard it he'd found out that it was being used by somebody wearing a mask.

 

“Yes, Percival?” she nodded.

 

“We’ve got a new lead on-” he faltered as his gaze landed on Newt. “Who-who’s he?” he frowned.

 

“This is Netwon Artemis Fido Scamander, the new International Consultant of the Auror’s Beast Wrangling division,” she smiled proudly despite having clearly just made it up.

 

“Ah,” Percival flushed a little, “The man who exposed Grindelwald?”

 

“Correct,” Picquery smiled.

 

“Should I…?” Graves trailed off, pointing to the door.

 

“Nonsense, Percival, he’s going to be working very closely with your Aurors for, well, until he retires, I suppose,” she said.

 

“Alright,” he sighed, pinching the bridge of his nose. “We’ve managed to find a new lead on Grindelwald, he’s supposedly somewhere in the East working on a new weapon of mass destruction.”

 

“Good, good,” she hummed, “Send a patrol unit there. I want a report on my desk by Monday.”

 

He nodded, turned, and disapparated.

 

“Now, Mr. Scamander, let’s discuss your duties.”

.

 

There was a seminar that night. All HODs were required to attend, as well as the higher ranking Aurors which, to Newt’s dismay, included Lucas or ‘Luke’ as Lucas had insisted Newt call him.

 

On the plus side, Queenie and Tina were both there. Newt found himself wondering where he could’ve been with Tina if he’d told her when he’d left back to England that he loved her. Would she have kissed him and said ‘I love you too,’ ?, would she have told him she didn’t love him back? Would she have hated him for saying it?

 

He took a deep breath, he needed to calm down unless he wanted to make a fool of himself in front of everyone or something.

.

 

After Picquery gave her speech about Newt and what he’d be doing and how she hoped that they'd all work well with him, she nodded to him to say a few words.

 

He walked up to the stand and forced himself to stop looking at the floor.

 

“Uh, hi,” he waved awkwardly, “Um, I-I’m Newt, and I’m really excited to be working with you all, uh…” he froze, he didn’t know what to say, thankfully, Queenie raised her hand.

 

“Um, yes?”

 

“Sir,” she said, “Are you the same Newt Scamander that wrote the book Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them?”

 

“Um, yes.”

 

That seemed to spark everyone’s attention.

 

Suddenly he was being bombarded with questions by the Aurors (the HODs were just a _little_ more dignified), What was a manticore? How dangerous were Thunderbirds? Was Nundu poison really fatal? How long did it take to write his book? Could X have an autograph? Could Y take a photo with him? etc.

 

Newt, flustered, tried to answer as many as he could but started to crumble. Thankfully, Graves came to his rescue.

 

“Ahem,” he said loudly, and clearly he was still feared in his department because all of the Aurors silenced up.

 

“Thank you, now I'm sure we’re all going to be working together fine, and I expect you all to be nice to Mr. Scamander,” he gave a curt nod in Newt’s direction sending a small shiver up his spine, despite knowing that this man wasn’t Grindelwald there was still something rather… frightening about him. “Now, I’m sure you’re all tired and want to go home. Goodnight, and I expect to see you all tomorrow at six,” he nodded and left the stand a _hell_ of a lot more gracefully than Newt did, a quick tug on his coat as he made his way out ignoring several groans.

 

Newt walked off to Gandylows Inn. He supposed he would have to find an apartment the next day, but until then he’d booked himself a room for the rest of the week, which gave him ample time to scope out the city. He _technically_ only worked three days a week, but he was a ‘call-in’ consultant, so if they ever had a case that looked unusual they would, well, call him in.

 

He froze when he saw a semi familiar face outside of a pub, sitting on the corner of a street. He made his way over.

 

“Modesty?”

 

He recognized her, of course. Credence Barebone’s adopted sister, Tina had told him about her. MACUSA had wanted to be doubly sure that no Barebone was left with any memories of the events of that night. They’d rounded up all of the children, obliviated them personally, and found them a new foster family.

 

“Y-yes?”

 

“What’re you doing out here all by yourself?”

 

“I-I,” she looked down and Newt noticed burn marks on her hands. He approached her and a black smoke-like sand seemed to seep from her hair out of her bonnet.

 

An obscurus, though it hadn’t managed to form fully yet.

 

“Is your, is your adoptive family…?” he trailed off, gesturing to her hands and watched sadly as she nodded, her wide eyes reminding him of another.

 

Tina had mentioned that Credence was especially fond of her. Maybe it was their magic that drew them together? He didn’t know, but he wasn’t going to let history repeat itself, he had reminders of his  two past failures living in his suitcase.

 

“Did you run away?” she nodded, tears in her eyes.

 

“Well,” he crouched down until he was eye-level with her. “How about this, you come with me, and I’ll take care of these,” he took both the 10 year old girl’s hands in his one and pressed a kiss to them.

 

She seemed a little unsure of him, but eventually nodded.

 

“Right,” he got to his feet and brushed the grime off of his coat. “Well, let’s get a move on then, we’re almost at where I’m staying.”

 

They walked a few more streets and eventually stood outside an alleyway.

 

Newt knocked on the bricks three times, took out his wand (Modesty looked at it with utter fascination), started where there was a little star engraved into the wall, went up three bricks, two to the right and one down.

 

A light shone and a door appeared out of nowhere. Modesty gaped as Newt stuck a key in and opened the door. “Come on, dear, in you go.”

 

The key lead directly to their room. Newt had reserved a one bed as he hadn’t known that he would have a guest, but that was fine. He could sleep down in his shed with the rest of his creatures and give Modesty the bed.

 

Wand still in hand he bade her to him.

 

“Episkey,” he said, watching as the burns slowly faded. He knew that it was a fairly weak spell when it came to healing (granted, his core was a kind which specialized in healing), but he wasn’t really sure what to use on burns, sure he’d gotten a few stray jets of fire thrown at him by the Ukranian Ironbellies. Fun fact, those things were _hot_ , like, 1960 degrees centigrade hot!

 

“Are there any more?” he asked her, concerned.

 

She hesitated a little before shaking her head.

 

“Alright, dear. Now, will you be alright sleeping alone on the bed here?”

 

She nodded.

 

“OK, come on, let’s tuck you in,” he said, pulling the blanket off of the bed and gesturing for her to crawl in.

 

She climbed on to the bed and he used magic to take her old, worn shoes off. They definitely needed to go shopping tomorrow, for a wand and for new clothes for her. She’d looked pretty cold when she’d he’d found her and her clothes were dirty and had holes in them, his mom would _kill_ him if he let her run around in clothes like that.

 

Once she was in, he placed the blanket over her as well as a spare that he’d found in the closet. He hummed, she’d also need some toiletries, he supposed. He personally just kept a toothbrush and some soap, but he assumed that girls generally had more toiletries than that.

 

And- he froze, wait. Did this- did this mean that he was going to adopt her? Was he- was he really the best choice for her? He couldn’t cast her out because she had nobody, he also couldn’t hand her over to muggle authorities because a) their childcare system sucked and b) they wouldn’t know how to cater for a child with magical abilities, they’d discover that she had magic and proceed to kill her. His last option was to find a suitable wizarding family that could take her in, but… he hesitated, taking a glance at her. She might not be fully gone yet, but the obscurus was starting to develop, and he wasn’t sure that a family would know what to do with a child like her.

 

He hummed, she was around about 10, in a year he could send her off to Hogwarts, and he was pretty sure that he would be able to cure the obscurus in her by then. What was one year? And besides, he owed it to Credence, his heart dropped a little, to all the Obscurials that he couldn’t cure. He wasn’t going to toss her to the curb like everyone else in her life clearly had.

 

First thing on Monday, he was going to march into MACUSA and ask what the adoption procedure was.

 

But for now, he opened up his case. Now was time to sleep.


	3. Chapter 3

Newt woke up to the sweet sounds of Erumpets and Nundus and a hell of a lot of other creatures. They were probably hungry.  
.

After feeding his creatures he crawled up the ladder and into the hotel room. Modesty was still asleep and he didn’t have the heart to wake her up.

He cast a quick cleaning spell on her clothes. It wasn’t perfect, but it was good enough for now, he thought, watching as they danced away to the bathroom where the bathtub and a bar of soap were waiting to wash them.

He had to find an apartment, he guessed. So whilst Modesty was sleeping, he flipped through a newspaper and noted down some numbers to call.

He heard something move and looked on in horror at the Niffler, who was sitting on Modesty’s head, playing with a gold chain wrapped around her neck.

He glared at the Niffler, daring him to move, but the choice was made for both of them by Modesty who opened her eyes and sat up.

The Niffler fell with a ‘thump,’ onto her blanketed lap and she stared at him with mild curiosity.

“What’s this?” she asked.

“Oh,” Newt said, flustered, “Um, he-he’s a Niffler.”

“Oh.” She blinked. “What does he do?”

“Steal, mostly,” he conceded, “But when he’s not stealing he spends the rest of his time being a general pain in the arse,” he winced at his choice of words which, whilst usually a good introduction line for the Niffler, were inappropriate for a child, particularly a lady, to hear.

“Oh.” She said. She looked lost.

He gulped, “Alright then, Modesty, how about we go for some breakfast.”  
.

“How do you know my name?”

“I knew your brother.”

“You knew Credence?”

“Yes.”

“Where is he?”

Newt winced. “Oh, um, you know, here and there mostly.”

She blinked. “Is-is he dead?”

Newt sighed, “Well now, Modesty, you see, the thing is-”

“Can I take your order?” saved by the belle quite literally.

“I’ll have tea and a scone, and she’ll have…?” he looked at Modesty.

“Um, I’m sorry, sir,” the waitress said, “We don’t serve tea… or scones…”

“Oh,” right, this wasn’t Britain, “Um, then I’ll have,” he looked at the menu, “Water and… bacon?”

He looked at Modesty. “What would you like?”

“Um,” she seemed shy. Of course, he thought, she’d never been to a restaurant before, much less with a stranger!

He felt guilty, but it had to be done. Under the table he flicked out his wand and muttered under his breath.

“Legilimens.”

He nearly cried at what he saw.

“Um, she-she’ll have pancakes and a milkshake,” he managed, his eyes watery. 

The waitress nodded, scribbling it down and running to deliver their order.

He’d seen a grove of trees. A family, a large one, with a happy and smiling mom and a strong and protective dad and many siblings. They were on a picnic blanket having breakfast. It was, as Newt had asked for, pancakes and a milkshake, one of Modesty’s last memories of her family. She’d wanted them, but she’d been too shy to ask. And if Newt was going to cure the Obscurus within her, then he’d have to eradicate that shyness and break any barriers that might have Modesty withholding information from him.

“So, tell me about yourself…”  
.

Newt had taken Modesty out shopping. The exchange rate was 7 dollars to a Dragot currently and he already had his first month’s salary.

He bought her a few articles of clothing, albeit nothing fancy. They then proceeded to go and buy her some toiletries: a hairbrush, soap, a toothbrush and toothpaste. Huh, he always pictured girls with trunks and trunks of toiletries, this was weird.

After taking her back to have a nice hot bath and to change into new, fresh, clean clothes, he took her to some of the real estate agencies he’d dialed up whilst house-hunting.

Eventually, he’d decided on a tiny studio. It was perfect! Modesty had, of course, looked at it a little funny, but as soon as the real estate agent left he smiled brilliantly at her. 

“On Monday,” he said, “When this is officially ours, I’m going to teach you about magic.”


	4. Chapter 4

“Wait, what?” Newt clutched Modesty’s hand, facing Picquery, Graves, Tina, _Lucas_ , Queenie and some other Aurors and HODs.

 

“I’m sorry, Mr. Scamander,” Picquery looked upset. “But the law prohibits me of giving you full custody of Miss Modesty Barebone-Pirra,” she looked sadly at the girl. “It’s against our laws to give non-American Wizards custody of American Wizard children, the only time it’s possible is in times of war.”

 

“But-”

 

“Mr. Scamander,” she cut him off, looking at the scared child then at him. “A word?”

 

She took him off to a corner, though he frowned at the fact that Graves followed. Then again, Tina _had_ mentioned that those two were joined at the hip, and their relationship- once shaky during the Grindelwald incident- was back on track.

 

“MACUSA cannot give _you_ full custody,” she said, “But I do believe that the girl,” she glanced back briefly to where Modesty was chatting with Tina and Queenie, “needs you. There are loopholes to the rule. If you live with an American Wizard _they_ can adopt her officially, and you can still keep her near you. If an accident occurred you would still be able to visit her as long as you had their permission. Unfortunately, if you fail to find someone to live with within 48 hours we _will_ have to begin searching for a foster family for her.”

 

Newt’s face fell. He couldn’t live with the Goldsteins because when Queenie had moved out to live with Jacob, Tina had let Lucas move in -_-. He couldn’t live with Jacob and Queenie because he was familiar with procedures like this, MACUSA would do a background check and have surprise visits and Jacob was a muggle so they’d get in trouble- plus, he’d feel as though he were intruding… huh, maybe he should reconsider Tina and Lucas’s place…

 

As if sensing the issue, Graves asked. “Is this the same Modesty who was Credence Barebone’s sister?”

 

“Yes.” Picquery nodded.

 

“And she stands the risk of becoming an Obscurial?” he sounded a little sad, Newt knew that he had been informed of the events of the previous year (It had _not_ been two yet!).

 

“Not if she is left in the care of Mr. Scamander,” Picquery said.

 

“Then I’ll volunteer.”

 

Newt’s face dropped. What. The. Bloody. Hell.

 

“What?” He and Picquery questioned at the same time.

 

“You heard me, I volunteer. Porpentina and Lucas live together now and I’ve heard that the other Ms. Goldstein is living with her fiancé, so I doubt he’d be too comfortable at either location, and Mr. Scamander does not, to our knowledge, know anyone else here.”

 

“Hey!”

 

“What? Am I mistaken?

 

Newt faltered, that was all the answer that Graves needed.

 

“So I offer my apartment. I can easily charm up room for two other people. The only issue though is the protection spells around it do not allow foreign entry without authorization. That would make it hard for WPS to make spontaneous visits.”

 

“That’s quite alright,” Picquery smiled. “They have a special system for MACUSA employees, because they understand the importance of security. You’d just need to bring her in every couple of months so that they can make sure that she’s still alive.”

 

They looked at Newt.

 

“Of course, the choice is up to you, Mr. Scamander,” Graves nodded at him. “I am only offering and do not wish to work against your will.”

 

Sure, why not. What more did he have to lose? Not Tina, right?

 

“U-um, s-s-sure,” Newt stammered.

 

“Excellent,” Picquery smiled, a large pile of papers popped up next to her. “Percy, these are yours, it’s the adoption form for Modesty Graves.”

 

Somehow, despite the chaos around him, Newt found himself smiling a little. Modesty Graves sounded a lot better to him than Modesty Scamander, Modesty Goldstein, Modesty Fontaine or Modesty Kowalski.

 

~~(Though Modesty Fontaine _did_ sound a little cool).~~


	5. Chapter 5

Newt clutched Modesty’s hand in one hand, and clutched his suitcase tightly in the other.

 

He had been informed that Graves knew of the piece of luggage containing his life’s work.

 

He was supposed to meet Graves outside of the Woolworth building at precisely 6:00pm, they were to apparate to Graves’s apartment as _apparently_ the place was under the Fidelius Charm.

 

Graves came out of the building and into the slightly cold air at 5:59pm, surprised and disappointed to see that Newt had arrived after him. He was used to being the early one.

 

He looked down at Modesty, who seemed a little frightened by him. She was adorable.

 

“Are you two ready to go?” Graves questioned.

 

Newt gulped and nodded, hating his body for revealing his nervousness. Goodness, did it usually snow here in May? Because it sure felt like it was about to, and it only ever snowed in England around Christmas time. Then again, this _was_ America.

 

They walked together briskly (poor Modesty trying her best to keep up, Newt not wanting to slow down because _damn_ this was awkward) to the end of the anti-apparition zone, Newt smiled because they were walking to Kowalski’s bakery.

 

It had been the official unofficial place where Newt, Tina and Queenie apparated to, because it was private and it was located just outside MACUSA’s headquarters, and obviously to say ‘hi’ to Jacob.

 

He could see Jacob closing up for the night, he quickly averted his eyes and the other man seemed to understand as well because he did his best to keep his eyes off of Newt and the man he recognized as Percival Graves.

 

They reached the turn, walked deep into an alley, and apparated.

.

 

Graves lived in a bachelor pad. Newt watched the older man pull a lever and suddenly the apartment was a _lot_ bigger, with several doors leading away to who knew what.

 

“Make yourselves at home,” Graves said, bowing graciously.

 

Newt nodded, “Thank you, Mr. Graves.”

 

Graves smiled at him charmingly. “My pleasure.”

.

 

They were, much to Newt’s chagrin, eating Graves’s food for dinner. Newt had, of course, insisted that if they were to use Graves’s food it should be Newt who did the cooking and washing up.

 

Modesty hadn’t spoken a word since they'd gotten there.

 

Graves had shown her a bedroom that was hers as well as a bedroom that was Newt’s, and had told them where his room was in case they ever needed anything.

 

Not that Newt intended on bothering the older man that much. He felt guilty enough that Graves had offered this, probably because the man felt guilty for Grindelwald’s actions the Christmas before last. Completely unnecessary of course, it wasn’t Graves’s fault that one of the most powerful wizards of all time had captured him, and certainly not MACUSA’s fault that he’d placed a Confundus Charm on anyone who’d questioned him, and also not his family’s fault given that they lived about a hundred miles from this place and led busy lives given that the two siblings had children and the other one was unsuccessfully courting someone… damn, Queenie knew a _lot_ about Graves.

 

After putting Modesty to sleep, Graves tugged on Newt’s arm.

 

“Um, Newton, a moment?” he asked, like Newt had the confidence to deny the request.

 

Newt followed him to the sitting room- he wondered exactly why Graves had that lever in his apartment that turned it into a fami- oh, _oh_ right, Graves was an uncle to a lot of children…

 

“Yes?” he inquired once they were standing in the centre.

 

Graves sat down and motioned for Newt to sit on the armchair opposite of him. Newt sat down a little awkwardly.

 

“Well, as you know, in order for this to work MACUSA has listed us as partners…”

 

“Yes…” Newt was unsure of where this was going, he started feeling a little uneasy.

 

“However, I would just like to clarify that we’re not actually in a, well, _you know_ …” relationship “just to make sure that we both understand properly what’s gone on here. So you don’t have to worry about anything going on, this is just until the USA recognizes you as a citizen. What’s between us is strictly business, so you're perfectly free to go out and find someone, just in case you weren’t sure.”

 

Oh. Newt blinked. That was a… relief? There were a lot of ways he’d thought the conversation was going, he guessed that this outcome was probably better than anything he'd imagined.

 

A smile made its way onto his face. “Thank you, Mr. Graves.”

 

Graves nodded, smiling. “Of course, Newton. And please, call me Percival, Mr. Graves is my father’s name, to be next inherited by my eldest brother.”

 

Newt laughed a little, the man seemed so much calmer in his own little space- at least, much calmer than he'd seen Graves at MACUSA.

 

Oh, if only he knew…


	6. Chapter 6

Their first breakfast together was quite memorable. Why? Because of the Niffler, of course.

 

The Niffler who was _supposed_ to be locked up in his case but had somehow gotten out and decided that the rings that Graves wore on his finger belonged in his belly pouch.

 

That led to spells being flung around, missing the Niffler and hitting random pieces of furniture until Newt finally managed to grab the little creature.

 

He held the Niffler by the foot and shook until the three rings- gold, silver and bronze- fell from his belly.

 

He stuffed the furry trouble-maker back into his suitcase, Graves waving his hand over their ruined breakfast and Modesty watching with awe as the table began reset itself.

 

Newt turned to Graves. “I’m sorry Mr- uh, P-P-Percival,” Newt blushed.

 

Graves nodded in Newt’s direction, “It’s alright, Newt. Seraphina warned me about some of your creatures… what was that?”

 

“A Niffler.”

 

“A-A _what_?”

 

“A Niffler,” Newt repeated.

 

“Ah,” Graves said, as though it made all the sense in the world. “Well, I have to go to MACUSA, are you working today?”

 

“No, I don’t work on Tuesdays or Thursdays unless I’m called in.”

 

“OK,” Graves nodded- wow, he seemed to do that a lot- “I’ll see you later, then? And please, make yourselves at home.”

 

He looked at Modesty with something akin to fondness before he disapparating away. It made sense that Graves got along with children, despite his lack of offspring, two of his siblings had children and some of his first cousins had them too.

 

He'd heard- via Tina- of Eros and Carmilla, two of Graves’s first cousins. Queenie had told him of one of his siblings, Margaret who was the youngest and was married. She was an experienced potion maker and ran a shop in New Jersey that MACUSA sometimes ordered from.

 

There was _one_ more family member that Newt had heard about, and that was- surprisingly- from Theseus.

 

Apparently there was a rumor that Graves’s father had… hexed some mug- No-majs in his youth. Despite the rumors he had somehow managed to become DMS and had eventually retired and taught Defense Against the Dark Arts – or as it was called at the time (apparently they had tried to ‘de-British’ it) ‘Duelling and Defending’ (It didn’t last very long and was ‘un-changed’ within a month) a year before Graves was born.

 

Well, Percival Graves to be specific, considering the fact that he was talking about the whole family.

 

.

 

Percival Graves did _not_ know what to do. He was trying to be friendly to the two newcomers in his apartment, but the feeling was… foreign. The only people he’d _ever_ shared accommodation with were his family, and even then he tended not to enjoy it.

 

Then again, it might be different, as long as Newt was _nothing_ like his siblings… Modesty was fine though, he liked kids a lot and wished that he could have his own family, he just hadn’t found the right person to settle down with, despite all of Seraphina’s interference. And now, after everything that went down with Grindelwald, his emotional scars were a little too much to dump on anyone. If he were being honest, he didn’t know _why_ he'd let the two so close to him when he was as vulnerable as he was. After all, he’d let them into his _home_ , his home which was under the flipping Fidelius Charm!

 

Maybe… maybe this was a mistake…


	7. Chapter 7

Newt needed to contact Albus Dumbledore. He walked to the bookshelf in his suitcase and took out two books, one on Hippogriff maintenance and one on Doxys.

 

The shelf shifted and revealed a secret room with a  Penseive and a fireplace.

 

Sometimes it paid off to have a brother who worked in the Ministry of Magic, he thought, taking a hand full of Floo powder and tossing it in. Time to visit his professor.

 

.

 

“Modesty?” Dumbledore frowned as he sat with Newt, the two leaning back in wicker chairs, the busy street below them. “That’s an unusual name.”

 

What? Technically the apartment was both his and Theseus’s, Newt just tended to be gone most of the time. Besides, Theseus wouldn’t mind, not as long as Newt greeted him at the least.

 

“Their foster mother was highly religious, from what I’ve gathered the girl was quite young when she was taken from her family. Apparently her real name didn’t sit well with Ms. Barebone.”

 

“Barebone? She doesn’t have any ties to the Obscurial boy you encountered on your last trip, does she?”

 

“Yes, they were both brought up under the same lady. They were pretty close, I’m guessing that their magic drew them to one another.”

 

“I see, and she is… at risk?”

 

“Yes, sir. That’s why I took her in, to prevent it from completely taking over her.”

 

Dumbledore looked thoughtful. “Has she shown any signs of improvement?”

 

“I’ve had her under my care for nearly a week now, sir,” he shrugged. “It’s fine when she’s around other wizards, but…”

 

“Not when she’s around muggles?” Dumbledore deduced.

 

“Precisely, sir. I think she’s remembering all the bad things they’ve done to her previously. She told me once, after a particularly horrid nightmare, that she’s scared of what Ms. Barebone would have done had she realized that Modesty _hadn’t_ been kidnapped by the family her group had killed.”

 

“Do you, do you want help?” Dumbledore seemed hesitant.

 

“I’m alright, I think I’ll manage, it’s just… sir, I was wondering if it were possible that she were to attend Hogwarts rather than Ilvermorny?”

 

“Why? You don’t want her to go there?”

 

“It’s just… I worry about her Obscurus developing, the time I have to submit her to school is less than a year away and, well, there’s no one I’d trust more than you to look after her… also, I don’t like the word No-maj, it’s so incredibly mundane and American, I fear I may lose my mind if she comes home from school talking about ‘No-maj’s, plus I don’t wish for her to feel lost. Hogwarts teachers and students are used to muggleborns, at Ilvermorny they're looked down upon, seen as inferior because _some_ muggles can’t help but preach hate against our kind… I don’t want her to have to go through that…”

 

Dumbledore nodded. “I will take it up with President Picquery, but I do agree with you Newt, it may be risky to send her to Ilvermorny. The professors there are not equipped to handle an Obscurus.”

 

“Thank you, sir.”

 

“Have you thought about getting her a wand yet?”

 

“Yes, actually. I was going to take her into my case and see if she bonded with anything. Then we could take a hair or a scale or whatnot to Ollivander’s to get it made.”

 

“I see.”

 

Newt jumped up as his pocket watch buzzed. Shit, Percival must be coming back.

 

“Sir, it was really nice seeing you, but I really must leave.”

 

“It’s alright, Newt. Really.”

 

“Take care, and send my love to Theseus!”

 

“Will do.”

 

Newt hopped into the fireplace and Flooed himself to his suitcase.

 

It was always nice catching up with his old Transfiguration Master.

.

 

When he got back Modesty was still sleeping. His day off was pretty boring, he decided. But on the bright side, it gave him time to check up on all of his creatures and make sure that they were alright. He supposed that he now owed it to Theseus to use his next day off to spend with him… huh, perhaps he’d take Modesty along, her first Floo experience, that would be pleasant.

 

He climbed up the ladder and froze as he saw a man.

 

The man about 6”2, strong, could _definitely_ take Newt in a fight, at least a physical one. He was dressed in formally casual attire.

 

“Who are you?” the man asked.

 

“Uh, I-I’m Newt,” Newt stuttered, reaching for his Newt.

 

“Well hi, Newt,” the man greeted, “ _expelliarmus_.”

 

Newt’s wand went flying out of his grip.

 

He suddenly found himself pinned to the door.

 

“Who are you and what are you doing here?” the man growled.

 

What was _he_ doing here? What was _that man_ doing here, more like?

 

Sadly for the man, Newt happened to know a decent amount of wandless magic.

 

“ _Impedimenta_ ,” the man was knocked off his feet. Newt ran for his wand, he had to get Modesty and get _out_.

 

“ _Stupefy_ ,” he held up a shield that disintegrated upon the first spell- aha! There was his wand.

 

“ _Expelliarmus_!” Newt cried.

 

“ _Fulgari!”_

Newt dodged. “ _Flipendo!”_

_“Transmogrifus!”_

Newt cast a countercurse but still felt a dizzying pain.

 

“ _Elek-”_

_“ **EXPELLIARMUS!”**_ a voice boomed.

 

Graves.

 

As the two wands flew from their owners’ hands, the two dueling men fell to the floor.

 

“What is the meaning of this!” he demanded.

 

“Percy, there’s a stranger in your apartment,” the man protested.

 

“What? Ed, that’s not a stranger, that’s my current house mate, his name’s Newt.”

 

“Who-who’s he?” Newt frowned as well.

 

Graves sighed. “I see some proper introductions are in order. Newt, meet Edward, my brother. Edward, meet Newt, a _friend_.”

 

Oh. _Oh._

 

“And keep that nasty curse off your tongue, Ed. It’s a wonder the Transmogrifian Torture Curse hasn’t become illegal yet, but we’re working on it. Nice duel, you two. I think you woke Modesty up.”

 

They followed Graves’s gaze to the corridor where the young girl was standing, clearly having woken up recently if the state of her hair had anything to say about it.

 

“I’m sorry, love,” Newt said softly, “come, let’s go on back to bed. I promise we’ll be quieter. Would you like me to run you a bath?”

 

The two disappeared behind the walls and Edward turned on Percival.

 

“Percy, _what the fuck_ , who is that psychopath and why is he in your house?”

 

“I’ve already told you. Besides, you're just mad because had I not intervened when I had, he would had _totally_ kicked your ass.”

 

“Would not.”

 

“Would too.”

 

“I disarmed him within seconds!”

 

“He knows wandless magic, lot of good that did you.”

 

“You know, he’s really annoying. And he has a funny voice, what nationality is he? British? Australian?”

 

“British.”

 

“…”

“…”

 

“Hey, you’re not going to tell Theodore about this, are you?”

 

“He already knows,” a third, cackling party popped up.

 

“How long have you been here?” frowned Percival.

 

“Long enough to watch the British cutie whip your ass. Seriously though, I thought mom told you to stop using that curse, if he hadn’t put a shield up you could have risked killing him. I don’t know about you, but I wouldn’t want to die because I had enough pain coursing through me.”

 

“I thought he was an intruder.”

 

“I could tell.”

 

“Wait,” Percival frowned. “You’ve been here all this time and Newt hasn’t noticed you?”

 

“Nah, he was down in that case of his. I came over earlier today to drop off a package from mom and whilst looking for you I saw that girl sleeping. Anyways, no one was around and I thought that it would probably be a bad idea to leave a child alone in an apartment, so I took watch over her. A few hours later, the British Bloke popped up out of that case thingy. Don’t know _what_ he was doing in there.”

 

Graves nodded, that was odd.

 

“I guess I should get going, I only swung by because Margie said she hadn’t seen Theo all day.” He disapparated out.

 

“I gotta get going too, Margie hasn’t seen me all day. Tell the British Cutie that I say ‘hi’!” Theo left too.

 

Why did he ever give those two access to his residential abode?

 

 


	8. Chapter 8

“You know, I’m impressed,” Graves commented.

 

He refused to let Newt do the washing up, Newt _always_ did the cooking, and he was pretty sure that despite his full fridge he hadn’t gone shopping in at least a week. So he was doing the washing up and Newt had just walked in from putting Modesty to sleep.

 

“Huh?” Newt frowned, a little groggy and still in a bit of pain from the fight with Graves’s brother.

 

“My brother, he was an Auror. One of the best ones ever, he ended up retiring after Naomi- his first child- was born, but he’s still seriously good… yet you almost beat him,” Graves elaborated.

 

“Ah, yes,” Newt blushed. “I suppose I got a bit lucky there.”

 

“Luck had nothing to do with it. That was pure skill, your wandwork was incredible, your reflexes were amazing. You should consider being an Auror!”

 

Newt laughed. “No, that’s not for me, really,” he blushed, hand sliding up the back of his neck. “I’m better off working with animals. Magizoology is my life.”

 

Percival chuckled deeply in a way that made Newt blush for no apparent reason. “I suppose you’ve got me there.”

 

“What about you?” Newt hummed. “What made you go into Auror-dom?”

 

“Mostly my hatred for injustice and my desire to help enforce the law as well as reshape it so that it oppresses as few people as possible and keeps as many safe as it can.”

 

“Oh,” that was as good a reason as any.

 

“He-,” Graves hesitated, “He didn’t hurt you, did he? I assumed that you got up your shield in time, but Transmogrifian Torture is still a horribly painful curse.”

 

Newt laughed. “No, no. It doesn’t hurt at all,” he lied.

 

“Still, might be best to head up to bed. You have work tomorrow and I’ve no doubt that your muscles are going to hurt tomorrow.”

 

“I-,” Newt hesitated a bit. “A-alright. Are you sure you'll be alright here? Don’t want any help? It would be faster.”

 

“Nonsense, Newt! You set the table, made the food and, to my knowledge, you restocked the fridge today.”

 

Newt blushed.

 

“Seriously, Newt. Go to sleep, I’ll take care of it,” he encouraged his colleague. “I’m almost done, really.”

 

“Alright,” Newt frowned, hesitating. “If you’re sure…”

 

“I am, now _go_ ,” Graves smiled.

 

Newt nodded, walking off.

 

Graves didn’t buy a word the man said, Newt’s slight limp giving him all the proof he needed. The curses had definitely left their mark on the man, he’d make sure that Newt got a proper night’s sleep. It was the least that he could do, considering that his negligence had gotten the Brit in the situation he currently was in.

 

.

 

Graves heard crying. It was soft. Small sobs. Small _feminine_ sobs.

 

He pushed off his covers and put some clothes on. He found Modesty crying in her bed.

 

“Hey…” he said, sitting down next to her. “Hey, what’s wrong?”

 

She flinched slightly as he moved towards her. Typical, she must remember something about him. It may have been Grindelwald who’d brought about her brother’s demise but the man had been wearing his face.

 

“Did you… did you have a nightmare, Modesty?” he questioned.

 

She hesitated before nodding slowly.

 

“You know, Modesty, I have lots of experience with nightmares. Do you want to tell me what you saw?”

 

Modesty shook her head.

 

“Well, then. That’s alright, really, Modesty. It’s pretty early, though. Why don’t you get some more sleep.”

 

Modesty looked scared. Graves got up to go when he heard a soft voice.

 

“Wait, don’t go.”

.

 

Newt woke up in the morning and started breakfast. He went to go check up on Modesty and saw the strangest thing in the world.

 

There, on the young girl’s bed, curled up seemingly protectively around her was _the_ Percival Graves, suit and all.

 

He could hear Graves’s soft breaths, not quite snoring and yet surprisingly soothing to hear.

 

It was really cute. Newt had noticed that Graves got along pretty well with Modesty, even if the young girl was rather afraid of him it was clear that he adored her or else the two of them wouldn’t be staying with Graves.

 

Graves would make an awesome father. It was a shame he wasn’t married with children yet, or a blessing based on how you looked at it… he looked kind of handsome asleep. A kind of peace on his face substituting the carefully placed mask he usually wore.

 

Newt stopped. Wait. _Handsome_?

 

Oh no.


	9. Chapter 9

Today was his second official day as a MACUSA employee. Picquery had pretty much spent his first official day being shown around, introduced formally to his team, and arguing for Modesty.

 

He was given a laboratory as a workstation, where he took out some of his potions- nothing too major, and obviously nothing that would give away too much of what he knew. In addition, there was a huge table with several racks meant to hold open books. He was reminded a little of the Ministry’s Beast division- a sharp wave of homesickness hitting him- except that everything here was much newer and the place was much- he sighed- _much_ emptier. In the MoM there were at least three people in the labs at all time, he was all alone here.

 

Setting his suitcase down, he tried to remember what he was supposed to be doing. Graves had handed him some documents, something about a creature that was hacking it’s victims into bits and spewing acid out onto them. Though, in his opinion, that was likely a wizard trying to frame a creature.

 

“Alright,” he said to himself, taking out the photos and the unofficial report. “What do we have here?”

 

The first photo was particularly gruesome. It depicted a couple, holding hands- aka the only identifiable body parts of the victims. Attached to it was a report.

 

_Believed to be the remains of Balthazar Yankovitch and Maria Lessandro, reporters for the New York Ghost and healer at WizHo in New Jersey at approx. 10:30 at night on the 7 th of May 1928. They are thought to have been attacked by some sort of creature whilst on a romantic outing. The acid used is thought to have been some type of mixture between Hydrochloric acid and Calcium Carbonate, Lead Researcher, Tina Gonzalez, believes it may be an acid that has never been documented before._

_In the package is a vial of the acid as well as remnants of the two, both complete and incomplete. We require confirmation on whether or not this was a creature attack before we can continue the investigation._

Newt hummed, putting on a pair of dragonhide gloves- made from previously deceased dragons- and extracted a vial of the venom.

 

He had took out a solid gold pot, ready to run a few tests. The were only a few beasts with poison like this and the ability to tear prey up like in the pictures, and it was his job to figure out which- if any- of them had done this and the best course of action to take.

 

Hmmm… not a Runespoor, thank goodness. Not a Snallygaster either, judging by the fact that the claw marks wouldn’t match the intense shredding performed on either Balthazar or Maria. Not a Manticore either, a Lethifold would have eaten its victims and Wampus cats didn’t spew poison… wait…

He dug through the rest of his notes.

 

Not Spirinal poison, not Scaldra poison and _definitely_ not Horgënshank venom. Ziedens didn’t tear their victims up, they merely ingested the internal organs, which the medical examiner hadn’t reported to be missing. Trundels ate the right hands of their victims, and he held in a bag at least one right hand…

 

Unless- unless it was a Ceti… but those were indigenous to Australia, someone would have had to have smuggled it in- he cursed. It’s not like he knew from past experience just how easy that was…

 

Maybe… maybe he ought to do some undercover work before he submitted an official report on this for Friday…

.

 

Newt apparated to the apartment as soon as work was over. They had a baby sitter for Modesty- Alora Gallows, an aspiring novelist who was well equipped to look after Modesty. The woman was kind and warm, and though she didn’t have any children of her own, she looked at Modesty with love and compassion.

 

 _“Same situation as me,” Graves sighed. “_ Way _too many nieces and nephews, Blandus just couldn’t keep it in his pants.”_

He’d pretty much surmised that Graves and Alora were related in some way, they both seemed comfortable enough around each other and whilst there was some resemblance it wasn’t nearly enough for the two to be siblings… perhaps first cousins?

 

Alora looked up from her writing and smiled. “Oh, hello, Newt! Modesty’s taking a bath, but I suppose she’ll be up in a minute,” the lady stood up, piling her books in her bag. “I’ll see you Friday, then?” he smiled at her and nodded.

 

“Thank you so much, Alora.”

 

“Don’t sweat it, Modesty’s great fun to hang around. Well then, toodles!” she disapparated away to- well, he wasn’t sure, but he assumed that she was headed home.

 

“Dearest, are you alright in there?” Newt called out, he received a response of “Yes, Mr. Scamander!”

 

Well, he supposed he ought to start dinner, Graves would likely be working late and would probably come home ravenous. It was the least that he could do for the man ~~and not because he wanted to impress him~~.

 

He wished that he’d asked Alora what Graves’s favorite meal was… meat? He’d seemed to like the lamb last night. Whilst touring in northern India, he’d learned to cook a dish called Kabarga that he supposed that Graves might like- _urgh_ , he had to snap out of this.

 

He supposed that it _had_ been a while since his last relationship… oh shit, that was Leta… shit, that was about fourteen years ago.

 

Maybe he was just a little touch-starved, maybe he just missed the intimacy of a relationship, maybe this was just him rebounding off Tina; but regardless, it had to stop. There was no possible way that this could end well, either Graves would return his feelings and he’d eventually scare the man off, having to run away with Modesty or leave her behind; or  Graves _wouldn’t_ return his feelings and he’d be heartbroken and run away with Modesty or have to leave her behind.

 

Not that he was very worried for her, she seemed to get along well enough with Graves.

 

At least Modesty would be safe regardless. She was really all that mattered.


	10. Chapter 10

Graves had insisted on sending Modesty to school.

“Even if it’s not a No-maj school, heck, even if it’s a tutor, she still needs to get a basic education. She’ll be going to Ilvermorny in four years and they don’t do classes like English or Maths or History, she’ll need them though because they form a crucial base towards a child’s learning capabilities.”

OK, so he still hadn’t mentioned that Albus had agreed to let Modesty go to Hogwarts… yeah, that was a topic for another time… maybe during a fight? He never understood why people waited until the other person was happy to break bad news, why ruin a good mood? Just throw it in when the person’s already angry.

He had to go into MACUSA today. He had been avoiding Queenie the past week, he was scared that if they were in the same room (especially with Graves) then she’d know, and that could not happen, because she’d probably tell Tina and then they’d know.

Urgh! He hated this! A smile played on his lips, OK, maybe not hated it, there were moments that it became inconvenient, such as when Graves was taking care of Modesty and he couldn’t help but think of Graves holding a child of their own and he proceeded to walk into something, or when Graves did the cooking/cleaned up because he ‘shouldn’t have to do everything’ and he blushed and struggled to formulate a reply.

Damn! Yes, he knew that Graves was descended from one of the Original Twelve, but he was such a gentleman and it was making it harder and harder for Newt to talk around the man! At least when they met he could act normal around him because he’d viewed Graves as a colleague, now that there was something more- romantic feelings, it was getting harder and harder to live with the man- but he could think of something that would make it less hard… if the man was angry with Newt…

Looks like he was telling him tonight.

.

“You what?” Graves’s face paled as his fork clattered into his plate.

“I asked Albus if he could use his influence to get Modesty into Hogwarts in September.”

“Oh,” Graves blinked. “Do you-do you not like Ilvermorny?”

“No, no,” Newt glanced to the side awkwardly. “I just think that it would be better for Modesty to gain control of her powers earlier on, and Hogwarts has an amazing faculty that are more than capable of taking care of whatever I can’t manage in terms of her Obscurus. In addition, Hogwarts has an open doors policy towards everyone, so students are used to muggleborns- granted that’s mainly because in England a muggle and wizard can pursue a romantic relationship!”

“So that’s the reason? You don’t think that Ilvermorny is No-maj-born friendly? Or is it that you’re just trying to get rid of her?” Graves growled.

Modesty was watching all of this, fear on her face.

“Modesty, sweetheart,” Newt got out through gritted teeth, insulted that Graves thought he was trying to get rid of the young child, “please go to your room, dear.”

Modesty nodded, quickly scurrying off to her room.

“What’s your problem? So what if I want her to go to Hogwarts?”

“So what? So what? Newt, that place is hallway across the globe! This kid has been tossed around the foster system before! Do you really want to put her through that again!?”

“No! But Hogwarts is the right place for her! It’s an extremely rewarding experience, the faculty there is amazing. They know how to look after children like her, she’ll be safe there!”

“Were you?”

“What?” Newt froze. “What are you-?”

“Were you safe?” Graves looked up at Newt, stormily, his voice eerily quiet. “Were you safe at that school? Were the kids nice to you? Did the professors take care of you?”

“That was different,” Newt’s face burned. “I was an outsider.”

“And you don’t believe that with her nationality as well as her upbringing and condition, that she will be too?”

Newt looked to the floor. “Look, me bringing this up was merely a formality. Modesty is going to Hogwarts, no matter what.” He got up and turned on his heel, walking down the hall to his room.

“This conversation isn’t over!” he heard Graves walking after him, but he didn’t care, he knew Graves wouldn’t follow him down into his case, which is where he fully intended to spend the night.

Graves sighed. What was he going to do? Much as he hated it, he had become attached to the young girl, formed a bond with her that resembled how he felt about his siblings’ kids- except for Millie, but she was born on the small side and had nearly died within a week of being born, so she obviously had a special place in his heart.

Nevertheless, he knew that he was being selfish, and that Newt was probably right, but he didn’t want to watch the young girl walk out of his life just yet… or the man that came with her- wait.

Oh fuck. Oh fuck oh fuck ohfuckohFUCKOHFUCK! He could not be crushing on Theseus fucking Scamander’s younger brother! Oh no, oh gods!

He had to do something- fast! Quick! Think of Theo, yeahhh… that always did the trick!

He needed to get to sleep and work out all of these thoughts before they ruined the best thing that had happened to him in the past couple of years- the best thing before that being, of course, Millie’s recovery.

Maybe in the morning, this would all make sense.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> OMG, their first fight! Wonder what Graves is gonna do...


	11. Chapter 11

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> haha, it's been a while, hasn't it? sorry for the delay.

Sarah Jane Williams, Graves mused. Sarah Jane _Graves_? She was rather pretty he looked at the woman who was serving him at the local wizarding pub. She was very pretty.

 

.

 

Graves was going out. Newt blinked. Well, that shouldn’t have made him feel weird, so why did it? Graves and Newt were friends, Graves was helping Newt out with Modesty and that’s why they were living together. Nothing more, nothing less.

 

“I’ll probably be back by around 10,” Graves smiled, about to disapparate.

 

Newt forced himself to smile. “Have fun.”

 

“Don’t wait up on me!” he called, his voice warping slightly as his body slowly exited the living room.

.

 

Sarah was breathtaking. She was the sister of Geelzie von Rumble aka Rodolphus Grey Williams, Theodore’s arch nemesis.

 

She was studying financing and was going to work in the No-Maj community.

 

“Just because we have magic doesn’t mean we have to work in a magical job, right? Besides, it’ll make telling people where I work a lot easier.”

 

“That’s true.”

 

She was so beautiful. Her soft, pale, _perfect_ skin. Her brilliant green eyes and her strawberry blonde hair. Her curves, her height- tall enough for him, she was from a respectable wizarding family- though not one of the original 12, the Williamses had only migrated to America a hundred years or so ago. They originally came in from Holland and started up a bakery. They had two sections, the muggle section which was open during the morning and afternoon, and the wizard section which was open during the evening. They weren’t insanely wealthy but they were well-enough off thanks to a few stock market investments (wall street was going crazy, it was like there was a new millionare every day!) and some other well placed investments, and her mother even worked in MACUSA! She was head of foreign relations.

 

He dropped her off at her apartment and apparated back home. He looked at the time, he’d told Newt 10, but it was actually the next morning. Then again, Newt was probably asleep and its not like the other man would care anyways, right?

 

.

 

Where. The. Fuck. Was. Graves!?

 

Newt glanced at the clock. It was a minute past ten, should he go out looking for the man? What if something had happened? What if his date was a follower of Grindelwald? What if- what if the reason he hadn’t come back was because Grindelwald had assumed his identity once more? Grindelwald wouldn’t know about this place unless Graves had told him _willingly_ , right, so if he saw ‘Graves’ at work tomorrow he knew he’d have to alert Picquery. Maybe he ought to alert her now, maybe- … maybe he should stop worrying about Percival Graves because he was a grown man and could look after himself? Maybe-maybe if Graves wasn’t interested in him, it was time for him to move on as well?

 

Newt wasn’t getting any younger, and though wizards could conceive regardless of gender the same muggle rules applied to them. Thirty to forty was a bit of a risk but modern magic had almost completely eliminated that risk, but anything over forty was suicide. He himself was nearly thirty- would be thirty in a week and a half. He had to act soon before he was too old to deliver or receive viable offspring.

 

Alright then, it was settled. Tomorrow he was going out to a bar or something- tomorrow he found a mate- er, partner.


	12. Chapter 12

At the moment he was sitting in a wizarding pub with Queenie. Jacob wasn’t with them because he wasn’t a wizard and Queenie hadn’t wanted Tina there because- thanks to her legilemency- she… _knew_ and she also knew that her besotted sister would’ve brought along Lucas who would have upset Newt with his presence.

 

“He looks pretty attractive,” Queenie pointed out. “Oh, never mind, he’s straight.”

 

“What about her?” Newt inquired, letting Queenie read his mind to avoid looking rude by pointing.

 

“She’s lesbian. How about… oh, never mind, she’s cheating on her husband.”

 

“Him?”

 

“… he’s the husband.”

 

“Seriously? Gah!”

 

“Hello,” Newt jumped slightly at the foreign voice.

 

“Uh,” he glanced at Queenie who winked and giggled.

 

“I’m Felix, what’s your name?”

 

“Uh, Newt.” He looked at the man for a second and when he looked back Queenie was gone. Fuck. You. Goldstein.

 

“What’s a guy like you doing in a bar?”

 

“S-scouting,” Newt replied.

 

“Really? You’re scouting? I find that hard to believe.”

 

“W-w-why not?”

 

“You’re too cute to be single.”

 

Newt blushed.

 

“Now, given that your lady friend is gone I’m assuming that you’ll be needing company tonight?”

 

“Uh, s-sure, if you’re, uh, interested…?”

.

 

Turns out Felix _was_ interested. Or, at least interested enough to ask Newt if he was free for dinner on Tuesday (which he was).

 

Ugh, did he tell Graves or did he lie? He’d have to ask Queenie about that, but he could do that tomorrow, they weren’t going out for another two days.

 

Felix. He liked that name. Felix Whyton. Descendant of the original 12. He was Abernathy’s cousin but was _nothing_ like the slightly pompous man. He was cute, had dark hair and warm brown eyes. He was slightly older than Newt, but not by too much, just roughly six years… and his shoes seemed to be a decent size.

 

“Yeah, he’s cute, isn’t he,” Queenie smirked when she caught Newt unaware that Monday at work.

 

“Queenie!” he hissed.

 

“Sorry, but don’t worry, he’ll _definitely_ make Graves jealous. Also, tell him. _Definitely_ tell him!”

 

Newt was going to pass out. What the hell was with Queenie? Shouldn’t she be mad at him for using someone- if trying to get over a crush by dating someone else was even using them in the first place. Honestly, he _could_ see himself in a long-term relationship with the man, maybe even married with kids? Maybe… but Newt Whyton didn’t really sound all that great. Maybe Felix Scamander? No, neither of them were alright.

 

Oh well, they’d cross that bridge ~~if~~ when they got to it.

 

.

 

Oh… Graves was also going out on Tuesday night, well… that was awkward.

 

“I could ask Tina or Queenie to look after her?”

 

“Its OK. I went out last time, you should go and I’ll just ask Sara if we can spend the night here. We’ll look after Modesty, don’t worry.”

 

The hell he was letting that bitch into the apartment to ‘look after’ his baby girl… where did that come from?

 

“Uh, don’t you think it’s a little early in your relationship with Sara to add a child into the mix?” good Newt, good. Act like you’re doing this for him. “Please, Queenie’s been dying to spend some time with Modesty,” she wants practice for when she and Jacob have kids, “I’m sure she’ll be OK with it.”

 

Graves looked a little uneasy. “OK, but next time we need to tell each other in advance so that we can hire a babysitter.”

 

“Relax, I’ll take Queenie out to lunch tomorrow to thank her,” Newt smiled.

 

“You know, some of the Whytons and some of the Abernathys are related,” thanks to a bit of pure-blooded mania.

 

“Huh? Oh, yeah. Felix mentioned he was Abernathy’s cousin.”

 

Graves nodded. “That’s… cool? For your sake though, I hope he’s nothing like him.”

 

“Don’t worry, he isn’t”

 

.

 

For their evening out, Felix took Newt to Central Park where he had arranged (through the help of some friends) a candlelight picnic.

 

It was so cute and Newt blushed the entire time. Felix liked to hug, and Newt enjoyed the warmth he provided, though it got quite a bit suffocating at times.

.

 

“So, I hear you have a cousin,” Graves casually mentioned after having greeted Mr. Richard Abernathy.

 

“I have many, my family’s one of the original 12, technically you’re my cousin too.”

 

Don’t remind me. “I mean Felix. Felix Whyton?”

 

“Yeah. Why you asking? He do something illegal?”

 

“Does he have a tendency to?”

 

“No. Not that I know of, anyway. Why you interested in ‘im, then?”

 

“Just… curious…”

 

“You know, Grindel!Graves said shady shit like that all the time.”

 

Graves stopped. Pale, frozen.

 

“Uh, wait, no,” Abernathy realized the mistake that he made. “Look, he was very good at acting like you, is all. You’re nothing like the real Grindelwald, but Grindel!Graves wasn’t really Grindelwald, now was he? He had Grindelwald’s aims and the personality of literally every detail that Emma would’ve shared with him.”

 

“It-It’s OK,” he said, “Really, I understand. And it’s been quite a while since the whole ordeal, I shouldn’t be so sensitive about it.”

 

“No,” for possibly one of the first times in Graves’s life, he looked into Abernathy’s eyes and saw a decent human being. “No, you have every right to be haunted by what happened. Laughing about it will make hurt less, sure, but that doesn’t change the fact that it happened, and that you _survived_ and that you are _stronger_ because of that.”

 

“Thanks.”

 

.

 

“So, guess what happened, Luke?”

 

“What, Abe?” Lucas Fontaine smiled, taking a swig of beer with Abernathy whom he had gone drinking that night with.

 

“Ya know your cousin, Percival?”

 

“Yeah, what about him?” Lucas answered, slightly drunk but not _totally_ inebriated to the point he wouldn’t be able to apparate home, in fact, he’d transfigured the rest of his beverage into water.

 

“So he’s asking me about my cousin, and I don’t know what it’s about- and then I find out that my cousin is dating his flatmate, Newt.”

 

“Oh. Wonder why he’s interested in him then?”

 

“I dunno? Are there any unsolved crimes that Felix could be in? No, he’s a quarter Canadian, he couldn’t hurt a fly if he wanted to.”

 

“Yeah, I’ll ask Percy…”

 

.

 

Except that Lucas completely forgot to do so as he’d been partially intoxicated and had woken up snuggling with a very naked Tina. Ahhh.

 

.

 

They were going out on Thursday. Newt couldn’t wait!

 

.

 

No criminal record, nothing. He reported back to Theseus that said man’s younger brother was safe. He was going out with Sara again on Friday night, their _third_ week together. He was scared, honestly. He’d never gotten past two months before the partner decided that they were done with him and left him in the dirt to pick up the broken pieces of his soul. But he really liked, Sara. Maybe she’d be different?


End file.
